Nathan Broad (born 15 April 1993) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Richmond Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He is a three-time premiership player with the club, winning in 2017, 2019 and 2020.
Junior and state league football
Broad hails from the Western Australian town of Wubin, 272 kilometres north-east of Perth. He played the majority of his junior football with the Chittering Broncos Junior Football Club, then Upper Swan Junior Football club, before moving to Perth at age 16 to join the Swan Districts development program. While in Perth he attended Governor Stirling High School on a sports scholarship.
In 2011 he was a member of the Western Australian squad, but did not play a game at the 2011 AFL Under 18 Championships. However, he was not drafted in the 2011 pool and returned to play state league football in the Western Australian Football League. He did so for four years including playing 20 matches with Swan Districts in 2015, while averaging 20 disposals per game in a rebounding defensive role. He finished fourth in the club's best and fairest award that year and began receiving the attention of AFL scouts. He attended the state draft combine in October 2015 and recorded a time of 24.04 seconds in the repeat sprint (faster than any player in who attended the national combine) and the state combine's third-best beep test score (14.1).
AFL career
2016 season
Broad was drafted by with the club's third selection and the 67th overall in the 2015 AFL national draft.
He first represented Richmond in a pre-season match against in his home state, playing a dual role as a general and rebounding defender. Despite this, and an all-around impressive pre-season, he would be restrained to playing with the Richmond's reserves side in the VFL for much of his first season at the club. He eventually made his AFL debut in round 14 of the 2016 AFL season against Brisbane in a home game at the MCG. He had been named as an emergency for the match but was called in to play after teammate Jake Batchelor was removed due to injury. He recorded 14 disposals and five marks on debut. Broad played in the club's next match as well, before being dropped and returning to VFL level for the rest of the season. He finished the year having played just the two matches at senior level.
2017 season
For the second straight year Broad started the 2017 season without gaining AFL selection. Just days before the VFL season was to start though he suffered an AC joint injury in his right shoulder while training in April 2017. He was subsequently added to the club's long-term injury list and missed eight weeks of football at all levels as a result. He returned to play for the club's reserve side in the VFL in early June. After showing good form at VFL level he was called up to AFL action in round 17. He remained in the side for the rest of the home and away season, holding averages of 15.1 disposals and 4.3 marks per game over this stretch. In the first week of the finals Broad contributed 15 disposals and eight marks towards Richmond's win over before helping shut down GWS forward Toby Greene in the preliminary final two weeks later. From there, Broad's side played off against minor premiers in the 2017 AFL Grand Final. He kept his direct opponent Tom Lynch goalless, while contributing 13 disposals of his own to Richmond's 48 point victory. As a result, he won a premiership medal in his tenth game that season and twelfth of his career.